A dad from Hinckley donned a Santa suit to raise money for a charity that took his sick daughter on a special trip to Lapland.

Mark Hackett, 46, took part in the Leicester Santa Fun Run on Sunday to raise money for the When You Wish Upon A Star charity, which makes dreams come true for children with life threatening illnesses.

Mark, who lives on Clarendon Road, completed the 5k challenge in 30 minutes and so far, has raised £500 to go towards the charity’s Lapland trips which take 400 children to visit Santa for the day each year.

Yesterday the Mark and his family, including his five-year-old daughter Imogen who was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma cancer in May, had the trip of a lifetime when they visited the home of Father Christmas.

Mark’s wife and Imogen’s mum Claire Hackett, 39, said: “We all went down to watch him. Imogen wasn’t really fussed as she had chemo that morning but we all had a smile on our face when he crossed the finish line.

“It was quite emotional to think of the time and effort that people put in to do this. There were complete strangers sponsoring him to put a smile on the faces of children that they don’t even know.

“It was a real sight to see everyone run around the park in a santa suit.”

Mark, who is a sheet metal worker and runs Hinckley Bait Supply, has three other children - Conrad, 15, Ethan, 10 and Cadence, 20 months. The family left for the trip at 5am yesterday morning and came back late last night. Before they went away, Claire said: “We didn’t tell Imogen we were going at first because we were not sure if she would be well enough to go.

“We got her blood count results - Mark had to get them because I was too nervous - and they were the best she’s had in a while which is unusual because they normally get worse with chemotherapy.

“When we told Imogen she was so excited. It will be a nice treat for us.

“It was meant to be just me and Imogen going but we found out that there were some extra places so now we all get to go - apart from the littlest one. I do feel sorry for the people that couldn’t come because they were too ill but it’s going to be really good.”